The Postman Fights Back (1982)

*** (Worth seeing)

Directed by Ronny Yu

Written by Kiu-Ying Chan, Kang Chien Chiu and Siu Fung Koo

With Ka-Yan Leung, Cherie Chung and Yun-Fat Chow

In this early Chow Yun-Fat feature, four very different men are on a mission to transport some top secret goods to rebels in the Laoma pass. The backdrop is the years following the 1911 revolution and the ongoing conflict between the nationalist rebels led by Sun Yat-Sen (here only referred to as Dr. Sun), and warlords in cahoots with Yuan Shikai, the first president of the republic. One warlord not yet on the side of Yuan is Zhao Long. This is where our gang of four come into play. They are hired by Hu (Eddy Ko Hung) to deliver some undefined goods to the mountain pass and for this they are compensated in gold, on the premise that they never open the containers in question and burn them if they risk falling into wrong hands.

As said, the group consists of four men:

• Ma (Leung Kar-Yan), the postman the film title alludes to. He is perhaps not the best at his work, but is portrayed as an honest man who doesn’t get the appreciation he feels he deserves. We learn that his pay is low and his job is at risk, considering the wide expansion of the railway network.
• Yao Jie (Yuen Yat-Choh), small-time pickpocket and long friend of Ma.
• Fu (Chow Yun-Fat), conman, gambler and somewhat of a martial arts expert.
• Bu (Fan Mui-sang), explosives expert.

 

Along come two women:

• Guihwa (Cherie Chung Cho-hung), a young girl whose sister has been sold into slavery.
• Miss Li (Guk Ching-suk), whom the band saves from bandits, and later turns out to be part of Sun Yat-Sen’s outfit.

This may be an early entry in Chow’s filmography, but the charisma of this guy is apparent as soon as he enters the frame. Overall, this is a decent Hong Kong flick with all that comes with it, but one perhaps fitting phrase would be “too many cooks spoil the broth”. The Postman Fights Back has at least four different writers (one of them being director Ronnie Yu) and it shows. There are a number of plot devices that end up unused or unclear. I can only guess the reason for this but I wouldn’t be shocked if the explanation is something along the lines of “that’s enough of that, let’s move onto some action”. For it is quite obvious the action is why this film was even made and that is where the true focus lies in this tongue in cheek action drama, shot in South Korea. The action scenes I would call above average, but not necessarily good. They are innovative, but technically unimpressive. The inventiveness is apparent both in idea and in idea (fighters standing on the back of their mate, next-level ninja tricks and so on) and execution (a handheld jump comes to mind). However, I feel both talent and skill is somewhat lacking. The fighting sequences are choppily edited and therefore not very stimulating for the audience. They are, on the other hand, at least somewhat entertaining from time to time, much thanks to earlier mentioned creativity.

The film shifts a bit in tone after more than an hour, when the group reach the pass. There are some quite graphical scenes of rebels being tied to a huge wooden fence and executed by a Gatling gun. What the awesome weapon turns its attention to after that is even more shocking. This is well handled by the director though, and even if this is certainly a somewhat comical flick these scenes are handled with absolute care and empathy. When all hell breaks lose between some of our protagonists and the inhabitants of the pass said care is thrown out the window though, and the world is quickly transformed into a world where there are goodies and there are baddies, and the baddies deserve the death that is coming to them. Death is never in this film portrayed as entertaining however, apart from a scene where explosives are tied to the tails of mice — and not even that scene is played out as simple joke. The final battle sequence, the face-off between our title character and our main antagonist,  Hu (Eddy Ko Hung), is genuinely entertaining and innovative. This might be one of the most bad-ass ninjas cinema has seen, as he pulls all tricks one could possibly imagine (and more). And… who knew one could win a duel to death simply by utilizing a compass? The Postman Fights Back is far from entirely successful, has a somewhat naive take on violence and conflict, but is pretty memorable and at least moderately entertaining.